In the past June 1 Children's Day, Toys“R”Us retail stores were showered by crowds and happiness. "Kids start running when they get to the store. They are so excited to see what new toys will take home. And it’s a special moment for moms and dads to see the children happy and excited like this.” said Raymond Burt, Managing Director of Toys“R”Us Mainland China.

As one of the most well-known retailers of toys, games, entertainment facilities and educational products in Asia, Toys“R”Us has added a large number of offline stores and actively expanded the domestic e-commerce market at the same time, to provide exclusive parent-child experience for Chinese families. There is an interesting principle of Toys“R”Us that cannot be ignored, their “consumer” is not the one who paid. In order to get customers back into stores more regularly, consumer interaction is one of the crucial parts.

Toys“R”Us not only wants to sell toys but also reaches consumers in diverse ways. Thus, they put emphasis on the social community built. R-community mini program (“Haowan” in Chinese) had set on WeChat, which can upload the happy moments of children playing with toys. It provides consumers with a platform where they can feed back their comments on toys and communicate with each other. "We hope when parents and children come to the stores, they can put aside their mobile phones and play with toys together to establish parent-child interaction and achieve a more harmonious parent-child relationship.” said Raymond Burt.

Compared with the traditional toys supermarket model, Toys“R”Us are now looking at more engaging experiences for both kids and parents, such as adding in elements of socialization. They believe social play is important, especially after the last few years when kids haven't been able to socialize. Nowadays, Toys“R”Us act on plenty of onsite activities to bring a unique experience, giving kids the opportunity to meet new friends and meet their social needs in offline stores, such as the Geoffrey Birthday Party, Roadshows, TOMICA pop-up store, and on June 9th, Toys“R”Us will invite VIPs for the "Transformers 7: Rise of the Beasts" premiere movie show. It’s worth mentioning Kid CEO Career Experience is a signature program of Toys“R”Us, where the children can role-play being the CEO in store for 1 hour with their parents. Family come in and do different aspects of the store. In the end, they will get a certificate and learn different skills. In this program, kids could socialize with others, and do it as a group. Parents always give good feedback about this event and believe it teaches kids to be responsible citizens in the community.

In commercial aspect, Toys“R”Us have a special range of products that have been selected locally in China for children and also internationally. From classic toys like Ultraman, Transformers, Marvel, Disney to a number of local IPs, Born to Fly is a perfect example. The Qman J-35 Stealth Carrier-based Fighter Model from the movie is one of Toys“R”Us’s top sellers. Chinese domestic IP is related to culture cultivating and will be accompanied by kids' growth. Toys“R”Us got an expert team participating in the development of IP products to ensure that toys are suitable for children of the corresponding age to the greatest extent.

According to Toys“R”Us, the consumer preferences for the toy category in China are changing. The best-selling categories are always with IPs and cartoon characters. But two categories that have exploded in the last 6 to 12 months are games. Family love spending more time together. Secondly, it is all about outdoor categories. Anything to do with sports, going to the park and playing outside has been very popular and has grown exponentially. It’s also seen a large growth in areas of activity based, such as crafting, sciences, exploring and discovering. The final one is trading cards. Trading cards for Ultraman and Pokémon have been extremely popular with young children, where they learn to trade and play.

“But in all, I think it's most important that we see the children coming back into stores and having interaction face to face with the toys, seeing them, touching them and selecting them.” Raymond Burt said: “China is very big, and we have a lot of opportunities to grow and expand. With the combination of online and offline service, we would bring a more wonderful toy shopping experience for Chinese families.”

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